The last time the federal government shut down, for 16 days in 2013, national parks like Yosemite closed. Federal employees, such as rangers who staff national parks, were furloughed as their positions were considered “non-essential.” (File photo)

The federal government has shut down more than a dozen times in the last four decades, and the next could begin Friday at 9 p.m. California time if lawmakers hung up on immigration differences cannot reach an agreement on a spending plan.

What will that mean? No, Uncle Sam doesn’t close up shop completely in a shutdown. Social Security and Medicare payments continue, food stamps still get distributed, and activities related to national security, such as the military, air traffic control and air passenger screening, go on. However, although soldiers are expected to show up for duty, their pay could be interrupted and Congress would have to approve paying them retroactively, as it did the last time the government shut down.

The ax tends to fall on federal functions deemed non-essential, even if they are high-profile. National parks like Yosemite close, putting a crimp not only on vacationers’ plans but on local businesses dependent on the tourism they generate. The Smithsonian museums go dark. And passport processing grinds to a halt.

Officials from both parties were meeting Tuesday in an effort to rekindle budget talks, setting up a Wednesday meeting of Congressional leaders themselves. If they cannot agree, the government would shut down Friday at midnight eastern time for the first time in almost five years.

State officials don’t anticipate disruption of state programs, even those tied to federal support such as social programs, from a temporary federal shutdown, said H.D. Palmer, deputy director for external affairs at the California Department of Finance.

“The only effect people would see is if national parks are closed down or if they planned a school trip to Washington and couldn’t go to the Smithsonian,” Palmer said.

The federal government’s current budgeting process dates to the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. While it set out a formal framework for developing and enforcing budget resolutions, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, it hasn’t always worked as envisioned.

The federal government has experienced 18 funding gaps, as they are known on Capitol Hill, where the process broke down, from a 10-day stretch in 1976 under President Gerald Ford to the most recent, a 16-day shutdown under President Barack Obama in 2013. Four of them lasted just a day, while the longest stretched 21 days in December 1995 and January 1996, a dispute over long-term spending and deficit reduction between President Bill Clinton and congressional Republicans led by Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole.

The current spending impasse revolves around partisan differences over immigration and domestic spending. Democrats want any spending plan to include protection for young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children and known as “Dreamers,” including the hundreds of thousands who received work permits in Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Trump moved to cancel DACA, though a court has stayed that for now, and sought a legislative deal on immigration that would protect the Dreamers but also include provisions to tighten border security and enforcement.

Democrats also want to match increased military spending that Republicans are seeking with non-military spending.

Trump aired his frustrations Tuesday on Twitter: “The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security. The biggest loser will be our rapidly rebuilding Military, at a time we need it more than ever. We need a merit based system of immigration, and we need it now! No more dangerous Lottery.”

But Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-New York, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told The Washington Post: “If they need Democratic votes, the overall legislation needs to meet certain Democratic criteria and be reflective of the values of the Democratic caucus and what we believe are the values of the American people.”

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